House Republicans: Mandate delay is ‘proof’ ObamaCare should be repealed

{mosads}On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced that the employer mandate requiring businesses to provide their full-time workers with health insurance would be delayed by a year. The mandate was supposed to go into effect at the beginning of 2014, but now won’t happen until 2015.

“The Obama administration’s announcement that it will postpone implementation of the employer mandate due to the enormous regulatory burden on businesses is proof positive that the law is a job-killer,” Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) said Wednesday. “This demonstrates, yet again, the need for full repeal of this disastrous law, not simply a delay.”

Republicans have argued that the employer mandate would harm the economy because small businesses would reduce workers’ hours or stop hiring because the mandate applies only to businesses with more than 50 full-time employees.

“ObamaCare is already increasing costs for families across the country and it is forcing businesses to question their future,” Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said. “I have heard from many businesses in West Virginia who fear that they will have to lay off workers and cut hours, or even worse, close their doors.”

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) said it wouldn’t matter how long the mandate is delayed because as long as it’s still law, it is “extremely dangerous” for the economy.

“The employer mandate is a job-killer, a wage-killer, and a business-killer,” Kelly said. “Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if the provision is delayed for a year, five years, or even a decade — the employer mandate is extremely dangerous and should be repealed in full.”

Democrats have argued that the law has already had a positive effect for people because those younger than 26 can stay of their parent’s insurance, insurance companies can’t deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions and it increased women’s access to preventative healthcare.